A look at the corner outfielders who have signed
By now most of you have likely heard that former Phillie Bobby Abreu has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Angels that will pay him $5 million plus expenses. If that seems ridiculously low for a player who hit .296/.371/.471 with 20 home runs and 100 RBI last season, well, it probably is. After all, Abreu was hoping for a multi-year deal worth closer to what he was making last season ($16 million) annually.
A look at the corner outfielders who have signed
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
By now most of you have likely heard that former Phillie Bobby Abreu has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Angels that will pay him $5 million plus expenses. If that seems ridiculously low for a player who hit .296/.371/.471 with 20 home runs and 100 RBI last season, well, it probably is. After all, Abreu was hoping for a multi-year deal worth closer to what he was making last season ($16 million) annually.
But, on the same day, Adam Dunn signed with the Nationals for two-years and $20 million.
It's been a bizarre market, for sure, one that I can't really seem to figure out. It's of interest to Phillies fans because they were one of the big players in the corner outfield market this season. In fact, their 3-year, $31.5 million contract with Raul Ibanez is the richest deal awarded to a corner outfielder thus far.
You can look at it two ways: the Phillies might have overpaid, or they were wise to snatch the guy they had targeted early before having to settle for someone else.
Personally, I think it was the latter. After all, the last thing this line-up needed was another big-power, little-contact lefty like Dunn, and Bradley has plenty of question marks with both his health and attitude. But time will tell.
Anyway, here are the significant contracts awarded to corner outfielders this year:
Raul Ibanez, Mariners/Phillies, 3 years, $31.5 million
Milton Bradley, Rangers/Cubs, 3 years, $30 million
Adam Dunn, Diamondbacks/Nationals, 2 years, $20 million
Pat Burrell, Phillies/Rays, 2 years, $16 million
Juan Rivera, Angels/Angels, 3 years, $12.75 million
Bobby Abreu, Yankees/Angels, 1 year, $6 million
Unsigned
Manny Ramirez, Dodgers
Garrett Anderson, Angels
Ken Griffey Jr., White Sox
Ibanez's contract is the eighth-richest in terms of total dollars doled out this offseason. It is the fourth-richest National League contract, behind Atlanta's 4-year, $60 million deal with Derek Lowe, the Cubs 4 year, $52 million deal with Ryan Dempster, and the combined $73 million over three years the Mets doled out to pitchers Francisco Rodriguez and Oliver Perez.
Sure the Phils overpaid a bit, but it may still have been the right thing to do. You can't compare it to paying Ibanez less, because that contract probably wasn't available. Quite possibly this was the best deal the Phils could have signed for a left fielder, or at least close enough. I'm not convinced Ibanez is all that much better than Burrell overall, because I put a lot of stock in OBP and I like that Burrell makes pitchers work so hard. But he won't get pulled for defense (making lineup management much simpler), he's supposedly a good clubhouse guy, and playing at CBP won't hurt his numbers. Even if they overpaid, it was probably only by a bit.
I am sure Wigginton would have signed if Ibanez didnt sign and he would get LF time. Its just that signing a left handed hitting Ibanez makes no sense when they have 3 left handed hitters on the bench that are good enough to start a couple days a week each. A Dobbs/Feliz/Wigginton rotation at third and a Dobbs/Wigginton/Stairs/Jenkins rotation in LF would have worked out well— 93phils- Philip L - if the pitcher or Carlos Ruiz batted fourth, would they have as many RBI as Howard? No, so its not based on circumstance. Clearly you need the players in front of you to get on base, but its also a skill to be able to produce with those runners on base. That is why some guys bat 3rd through 5th, while others bat 8th.— Gary Varsho
- Amaro *definitely* overpaid for Ibanez. But not so much that this can be called a "ridiculous" deal. And I'd say he's had a good first offseason otherwise.— Tartan69
- You move Ruiz to 4 and his RBI increase. You move Howard done to 9 and his RBI go down. Therefore the constant is the player and the variable is the batting position(circumstance). Please no more logic fail. Of course Ruiz wont get as many cause he doesn't hit for as much power/avg. So if you want to argue that Ruiz is a worse hitter then Howard, i'll agree. But Howard would still have about the same OPS in the 9 slot as he would in the 4. Cause he still swings the same bat with the same body at the same ball no matter where he is. The only variable is if people are on base in front of him. Which is not a skill.— Philip L
- Dunn strikes out a lot and cant hit LHP, but he has 40+ HRs in FIVE straight years. And he only got $10 mill. Ibanez hit 23 HR in 600+ ABs last year, which is average at best for an OF. They should have offered 3 years $21 mill.— 93phils
- To add onto Philip's post, that is why Rollins doesnt have as many RBI as he should. Because the bottom of the lineup doesnt get on base. Its also why Tony LaRussa bats the pitcher 8th, so he has a player 9th that is more likely to be on base when Pujols is up third.— 93phils
- Personally, I think the angels overpaid for Abreu. Sure, he puts up good numbers, but they are the most hollow #s in all of baseball. He does every "little thing" wrong. Trading him for a bucket of baseballs is what turned the phillies franchise around.— MrWilhelm
- ahh, murph has updated his web photo from "eager young intern" to "contemplative mick".— bobcitydoc
- Boy is this a silly argument. RBI is a terrible stat because it confounds too many variables. It's not just who bats in front of you, it's not just your batting ability, it's the combination of both. And you can't uncombine them just by looking at RBI totals. Anyone who claims the stat reflects only circumstance or only ability is simply unfamiliar with baseball statistics.
- Philip L - if you want to continue to say that driving in runs is not a skill, then more power to you, but you're wrong.— Gary Varsho
- drfireman, then the Phils should have realized Ibanez hit 3rd or 4th in the lineup and barely got 100 RBI in Seattle. Put him 6th or lower in the Phils lineup, he will be lucky to get 80 RBI. Which is why they didnt have to pay so much for a LF— 93phils
- 93phils - Ibanez knocked in his RBI on a BAD team. You put him 5th on the Phillies, which is where he will likely bat, and he will easily knock in as many or more RBI than Burrell.— Gary Varsho
Comment removed.- Philip is trying to say batting order number has a huge factor on RBIs. Consider, Ryan Howard had 610 at bats, 298 of which (49%) had runners on base. Alfonso Soriano had 453 at bats, 169 of which (37% had runners on base. 85% of Howard's RBI's came with runners on base and 76% of Soriano's came with runners on base. Without getting into tons of detail, it shows how the heart of the lineup has more at bats with runners on base which can lead to more RBIs— 93phils
